chemical reactionany type of chemical a process in which one or more substancesare changed into different substances, as differentiated from other kinds of changes—those of position or of form—undergone by matter. Chemical reactions are manifested by the disappearance of properties characteristic of the starting materials and the appearance of new properties that distinguish the products; within the limits of observation, the mass of the products formed is equal to the mass of the substances consumed. Thus, when wood burns, the substances present initially, wood and oxygen in the atmosphere, are converted in a chemical reaction to water vapour, carbon dioxide, and ash. All combustions are chemical reactions. Other types of familiar chemical reactions include decay, fermentation, the hardening of cement, the development of a latent image in an exposed photographic film, the tarnishing of silver, the corrosion of steel, the evolution of gas when vinegar and soda are mixed, the synthesis of nylon, and the digestion of food.

In a general sense, material substances can undergo change in three ways: a change of position, called movement; a change of form, such as the freezing of liquid water; and a change of substance, a chemical reaction. Some classify changes of form as chemical reactions, but, historically, the term chemical reaction has been applied only to changes of substance. The application to change of form is discussed below. Using the historical definition, each different chemical reaction displays the same unique characteristics.

Transformation

Thus, in a chemical reaction the substances originally present disappear, and substances that were not initially present appear. Factually, however, it is more descriptive to say that properties that were initially observable are no longer observed, and properties not originally observable are now noted. In combustion, a substance called wood, with its unique properties (fibrous, less dense than water, generally light- or dark-brown in colour), and oxygen, with its unique properties, all of which were capable of detection before combustion occurred, cannot be detected after combustion. Instead, after combustion, only the properties of water vapour, carbon dioxide, and ash can be detected.

Conservation of mass

Chemical reactions display another essential quality. Although substances change in a chemical reaction, within limits that can be measured the total mass does not change. That is, the mass of wood and oxygen that disappears in a combustion is equal to the mass of water vapour, carbon dioxide, smoke, and ash that appears. In ordinary chemical reactions, this loss of mass as the reactants vanish is equal to the gain of mass as the new substances form. Because this effect is universal, it has been presumed to be fundamental, an indication that there is some common, universally applicable reason that applies to all material substances.

Fixed composition

Further, substances formed in chemical reactions display another universal but more specific characteristic. For example, water is formed as one of the products in hundreds of quite different chemical reactions, but, without exception, it contains only the elements hydrogen and oxygen and always in the same proportion: the mass of oxygen is eight times as great as the mass of hydrogen. That is, the composition of water is independent of the particular chemical reaction by which it might have been formed. Parallel phenomena are observed with other substances: whenever carbon dioxide is formed as a product, the mass ratio of carbon to oxygen is always 3 to 8; for ammonia (a gas, not the aqueous solution called household), the ratio of its constituent elements, nitrogen and hydrogen, is always 14 to 3. (Precise measurements reveal minor variations in the mass ratio that are understood in terms related not to chemical reaction but to nuclear composition; see isotope.)

Energy effects

Finally, in all but a very few chemical reactions, energy is either absorbed or evolved. It is often evolved as heat, as in combustion, but also in other forms, such as electrical energy during the chemical reaction in a battery when it is switched on to operate a flashlight or portable radio. The amount of energy evolved depends on the mass of the products formed. For twice the mass of product formed, in two otherwise identical chemical reactions, exactly twice as much energy is evolved. The same relationship applies to reactions during which energy is absorbed rather than evolved.

A chemical reaction can now be defined more explicitly as a process of change in which the substances originally present, called reagents, are changed into substances with other properties, called products, in such a way that, first, there is no observable change in the total mass; second, whenever the same product is formed by a different process of change, that product exhibits the same mass ratio of components; and, third, almost always, energy is either absorbed or evolved in an amount that is directly related to the mass of the products formed.

These facts have two important consequences. First, they can be used to infer universally applicable, theoretical principles to account for the reasons that chemical reactions occur and for some of the details of the process, thereby increasing understanding of the material universe. Second, these facts and the related uncertain but usable theories can be used to alter man’s environment for either his benefit or his detriment. Examples abound. The chemical industry manufactures beneficial substances, such as polymeric fibres (e.g., nylon) and elastomers (synthetic rubber), dyes, other polymers (plastics), metallic alloys, fertilizers, paints, insecticides, drugs, ceramics, and fuels; but these manufactures also cause undesired effects upon man’s ecological system, creating problems that demand further application of chemistry as well as other branches of knowledge.

Introductory survey

Growth of major theories concerning chemical reactions

Chemical reactions were known to prehistoric man, and it is possible to conjecture that he speculated upon their cause. In ancient Greek civilization this speculation led to a qualitative supposition that matter is perhaps composed of individual particles. Not until late in the 17th century, however, did theory and philosophical speculation become conjoined in the first of many far-reaching attempts to explain chemical reactions. The German chemist and physician Georg Ernst Stahl, basing his ideas upon earlier and less specific suggestions, postulated that during combustion a substance, which he named phlogiston, escaped from the burning fuel into the air. Thus if a drinking glass is inverted over a burning candle, the flame dies out in a short time, because, it was postulated, the air within the glass becomes saturated with phlogiston. According to these ideas, because ash remains after combustion, wood is composed of phlogiston and ash. Because no ash is left when a candle burns, candle wax is obviously pure phlogiston. Therefore it should be possible to prepare wood in a chemical reaction between wood ash and candle wax. This prediction of the phlogiston theory failed. It failed in more startling ways, as well. When metals burn, for example, their ash is greater in mass than the original metal. To explain this, it was suggested that phlogiston possessed the quality of negative mass, which is a direct contradiction of its other postulated properties.

Additional evidence that led to the downfall of the phlogiston theory was accumulated by several workers, among whom Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in Sweden, and Joseph Priestley, first in England and later in North America, can be mentioned particularly. Independently, each discovered a gas (actually oxygen), but both failed to recognize the significance of their discovery. Priestley in particular maintained his belief in phlogiston until his death. At about the same time, however, near the end of the third quarter of the 18th century, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, in France, independently discovered the same gas, and he recognized its significance. He postulated that combustion was a chemical reaction involving two substances, one, a component of the air, which he named oxigine (oxygen), and the other a combustible substance, such as candle wax, wood, or metal.

Shortly after the beginning of the 19th century, John Dalton in England postulated that matter is composed of small, indivisible, and unalterable particles called atoms and that in a typical chemical reaction groups of atoms initially conjoined in some way became disassociated and then rejoined in new arrangements. The observed disappearance of properties and the appearance of new properties were thus explained by the theory that the properties of a substance depend upon its atomic composition. Centuries earlier, others had expressed ideas that were very similar, but Dalton was able to convince his contemporaries of the probable validity of his postulate.

Of equal importance was Dalton’s concept that each atom of any single element was identical in every respect to every other atom of that same element. As a consequence, the masses of the atoms are quantitatively revealed in the ratio of the masses of the components of a substance. Thus, because the mass of oxygen in water is eight times that of the mass of hydrogen, it can be said that one atom of oxygen is eight times as massive as one atom of hydrogen, on condition that one particle (today denoted by the word molecule) of water is composed of one atom each of hydrogen and oxygen. As Dalton recognized, however, one particle of water might be composed of some other number of hydrogen and oxygen atoms—for example, two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen—then the relative masses of oxygen and hydrogen atoms would be 8 to 12 or, in whole numbers, 16 to 1.

During this same period, other facts obtained in laboratory studies, particularly those of Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, in France, suggested that, although the masses of gases that reacted with each other showed no simple consistency, the volumes of those reacting gases did demonstrate a certain simplicity. For example, eight grams of oxygen reacted with one gram of hydrogen, and 14 grams of nitrogen reacted with three grams of hydrogen; but, when measured at equal temperatures and pressures, the volume of hydrogen was found to be exactly twice that of the volume of oxygen in the reaction to form water, and the volume of hydrogen was found to be exactly three times that of nitrogen in the reaction to form the gas ammonia. Apparently, this small integer volume relationship hinted at an as yet unknown fundamental property of matter. Amedeo Avogadro in Italy suggested that this property could be explained by the assertion: All gases at the same temperature, pressure, and volume will contain the same number of particles, which may or may not be single atoms. His suggestion was not well received, but Avogadro’s pupil, Stanislao Cannizzaro, carried out further studies, in the light of which it became reasonable to state that water molecules contain two atoms of hydrogen, ammonia molecules three atoms of hydrogen, hydrogen chloride molecules one atom of hydrogen, and, for each, some number of atoms of other elements. These compositions are symbolized today by formulas in which the symbols for the elements represent single atoms. Thus, water is H2O, the subscript 2 indicating two atoms of hydrogen and a subscript of 1 being understood for one atom of oxygen. For ammonia, the formula is NH3: one atom of nitrogen and three atoms of hydrogen in each molecule. For hydrogen chloride (Cl being the symbol for chlorine), HCl: one atom of each. Approximately 50 years after the initial publication of Avogadro’s ideas and largely through the efforts of Cannizzaro, Avogadro’s hypothesis, or theory, as it is more commonly called today, was accepted by most scientists. (Modern methods of analysis have established that the actual number of molecules in a quantity of any substance equal in mass in grams to the molecular weight of the substance—e.g., 18 grams of water—is 6.02 × 1023, called Avogadro’s number.)

Facts revealed by intensive laboratory examination of other properties of matter (e.g., magnetism, electricity, radiations) led to theoretical conclusions that atoms are not indivisible but are themselves composed of still smaller parts, or particles. One of these parts is a negatively charged particle named the electron (the meaning of “negative charge” is still unknown except for broad generalities), and another is a positively charged particle called the nucleus. The interaction of electrons from different atoms, often conjointly as electron pairs, with the positively charged nuclei of each of the atoms, constrains them to group together in fixed ways as molecules. Not all substances, however, are molecular. For example, salt, a compound of sodium and chlorine, consists of an aggregation of charged particles called ions. In particular, salt is an aggregation of any number of sodium ions and of an equal number of chloride ions. A sodium ion is derived from a sodium atom by the loss of one electron; a chloride ion is derived from a chlorine atom by the gain of one electron. Still other nonmolecular aggregations are believed possible. Diamond is an aggregation of any large number of carbon atoms arranged in a unique three-dimensional configuration in a repetitive manner, much as the design of wallpaper is repetitive in two dimensions. In this respect, salt is like diamond; its ions are arranged in any single crystal of salt as a repetitive pattern not unlike a three-dimensional chessboard might be imagined, in which black and white squares represent sodium and chloride ions, respectively.

With this information, a more recently developed definition of a chemical reaction can be stated. Thus, if atoms are held together, or bonded, in molecules or in other types of aggregations by electron interactions, then in a chemical reaction these bonds are broken (by the absorption of energy) and, either simultaneously or subsequently, new electronic interactions develop as other bonds are formed (with the release of energy). Hence, distinct from the historically developed ideas, a chemical reaction can now be defined as a process of change in which some bonds are broken and different bonds are formed. This definition includes all processes that involve a change of substance as well as many of the processes that involve a change of form, such as the freezing of water.

Energy considerations

If the energy absorbed in bond rupture exceeds the energy released by the formation of new bonds, then overall the chemical reaction is observed to be energy absorbing. The converse is true for cases in which the energy absorbed is less than the energy released. In a very few instances the overall absorbed and released energies are equal in magnitude.

In every case, however, energy must be supplied to the reactants in order to initiate the breaking of bonds before other bonds can be formed because a stable bond will not of itself degenerate. In general, therefore, all chemical reactions, even exoergic or aergic, require the introduction of energy in some form from an external source in order to begin. The initiating energy, called activation energy, is sometimes supplied as heat from another, already initiated exoergic chemical reaction. Thus, to set fire to paper the activation energy can be supplied by a burning match, for which the activation energy was generated by a chemical reaction of the materials in the match head, for which activation energy was supplied as heat generated from frictional effects when the match head was rubbed upon a suitable surface.

The required energy may be furnished, instead, as electrical energy, as for the endoergic decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen, the electrical energy being obtained from generators driven by turbines, which are in turn powered by falling water. In still other instances the requisite energy is supplied in the form of light, which can be thought of as consisting of discrete particles of electromagnetic energy, called photons. Photons that give rise to the sensation of red have less energy than photons that give rise to the sensation of orange, and these have less energy than photons that produce the sensation of yellow, and so on. Photons of lesser energy and photons of greater energy than those that comprise the range of visible colours are known and are called infrared and ultraviolet photons, respectively. If a photon of the particular quantity of energy needed to break a particular chemical bond passes near enough to that bond, it is probable that that photon will cease to exist and its energy will be absorbed by that bond as it breaks. Reactions that can be initiated in this manner are called, appropriately, photochemical reactions. The best known photochemical reaction is actually a series of consecutive reactions that takes place in the green leaves of plants through the influence of sunlight. These reactions, called photosynthesis, involve the consumption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and of water present in the plant, with the production of oxygen, released to the atmosphere, and of cellulose and starch (or sugar), which remain within the plant structure.

Catalytic reactions

For reasons not yet well understood, many chemical reactions can be initiated with a lesser activation energy than normally required when they are conducted in the presence of special foreign substances called catalysts; such a reaction is said to be catalyzed. Chlorophyll is a catalyst in the photochemical reaction of plants. Enzymes are involved as catalysts in the metabolic processes (chemical reactions) that occur in living tissue; the enzyme pepsin, present in the stomach, catalyzes the breakup of large protein molecules into smaller molecules.

A sugar cube will sputter but not burn when a match flame is applied to its surface, but very small amounts of substances called rare-earth oxides act as catalysts for this particular combustion; the oxides are present in trace amounts in tobacco ash, and a cube lightly coated with tobacco ash will burn if heated with the flame of a match.

At one time it was thought that the driving force, the cause of the spontaneity of chemical reactions, the reason, so to speak, that wood burns or cement hardens or an egg congeals when it is cooked, could be attributed to energy relationships such as those discussed above.

Entropy

It is now known that these energy relationships are indeed related to the rapidity or slowness of any particular chemical reaction, but the reason a chemical reaction occurs, at any speed, is attributed to changes in what is called the entropy both of the substances involved in the reaction and of the surroundings not otherwise involved in the chemical reaction itself. Entropy is the measure of that energy that is associated with disorder in any system; it is a concept developed in thermodynamics to take into consideration the fact that not all types of energy can be manipulated to do work. Thus, in any isolated system, entropy tends to increase; i.e., the portion of energy that is not available for work is transformed into the energy of disorder. Consider, for example, the reaction in which wood combines with oxygen: water vapour, carbon dioxide, and ash are formed, and heat is evolved. The entropy of the wood and oxygen is relatively small, while the entropy of the products is larger; that is, for the substances themselves, entropy has increased. The evolved heat also causes an increase in the entropy of the surroundings that absorb that heat. Hence, overall, for the substances and for the surroundings, entropy has increased. Unless overall there is an increase in entropy, a chemical reaction cannot occur. In the synthesis of water from hydrogen and oxygen, to be described more fully below, the entropy of the product, water, is less than the entropy of the reagents, hydrogen and oxygen. The heat evolved in this reaction, however, is sufficient to increase the entropy of the surroundings more than the decrease of entropy suffered by the substances themselves; overall, that is, entropy increases. For this reason the reaction is spontaneous.

Modern views and classification systems

When the science of chemistry began, only the masses of the reagents and products could be measured. This early emphasis upon mass and, practically speaking, the weighing of samples influenced the theories of chemical reaction. As understanding developed, measuring instruments more sophisticated than balances and volumetric glassware were designed, particularly as a consequence of developments in physics. Today, it is possible to measure with precision and reliability a variety of subtle effects, ranging from the absorption and emission of energy as heat, as photons, or as electrical energy to detection of almost unimaginably small amounts of reagents. In general, modern chemical theoretical research is concerned with either the mechanism of a chemical reaction (called kinetics, or kinetics and mechanisms, or the dynamics of chemical reactions) or with the construction of mental or physical models of the structure of matter (called structural chemistry). In addition, applications of both new and old theory are made with the consequent introduction of new or improved substances useful in commerce. There is perhaps no single case today for which all of the theoretical details can be completely described, and only a vague distinction can be made between theoretical and applied chemistry.

Various other classifications and types of chemical reactions exist, derived largely from a theoretical viewpoint. They are not, however, all-inclusive, as are the classifications of chemical reactions as exoergic, endoergic, and aergic. Thus, a synthesis reaction may also be an oxidation–reduction reaction. Some acid–base reactions may also be ionic reactions, or precipitation reactions.

Synthesis

A synthesis reaction, in the simplest sense, involves elements as reagents and the formation of a compound (a substance composed of more than one element) as the product, often as the only product. Iron, symbolized as Fe, reacts with sulfur, S, to form iron sulfide, FeS, as shown by this chemical equation: Fe + S → FeS. Thus, the plus sign on the left symbolizes “reacts with”; the arrow signifies “forms,” “produces,” or “yields.”

In addition to symbolizing the substances, iron, sulfur, and iron sulfide, the symbols used in a chemical equation also specify the amounts of substances that react and are produced. Thus, Fe represents 55.85 grams of iron, S represents 32.06 grams of sulfur, and FeS represents 87.91 grams of iron sulfide. That is, the chemical equation given above summarizes laboratory-measured fact: 55.85 grams of iron will react with exactly 32.06 grams of sulfur to form exactly 87.91 grams of iron sulfide. If other amounts are used, say one-fifth as much iron, 11.17 grams, no matter how much sulfur was present in excess, only one-fifth of 32.06 grams would be consumed and one-fifth as much product formed. The converse is true (in round numbers): if half as much sulfur is available, then half as much iron would react, and about 44 grams of iron sulfide would be formed. The calculation of the amounts of reagents consumed and of products formed constitutes the branch of chemistry called stoichiometry.

As a second example of synthesis, the following equation describes the synthesis of water from its elements: 2H2 + O2 → 2H2O. Here, a new feature of a chemical equation appears, the stoichiometric factor, 2, preceding the formula for hydrogen molecules, H2 (two atoms in each molecule), and water molecules. That is, in the laboratory it has been observed that four grams of hydrogen react with 32 grams of oxygen to produce 36 grams of water. The symbol for one gram of hydrogen in the form of atoms is H; the expression for two grams of hydrogen in molecular form is H2. In the reaction described by the equation, then, the expression 2H2 represents four grams of hydrogen in the form of molecules. Analogously, the formula H2O represents 18 grams of water molecules.

These quantities—H, or one gram of hydrogen atoms; H2, or two grams of hydrogen molecules; H2O, or 18 grams of water molecules; Fe, or 56 (approximately) grams of iron atoms; S, or 32 grams of sulfur atoms—are called moles of these substances. Thus, one mole of hydrogen atoms weighs one gram; one mole of water molecules weighs 18 grams; one mole of iron sulfide molecules weighs 87.91 grams. In each of these instances and in all others that could also have been mentioned as additional examples, the same number of particles is understood to be specified. Thus, one mole of hydrogen molecules contains 6.02 × 1023 (602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) molecules (Avogadro’s number, see above Introductory survey: Growth of major theories concerning chemical reactions); one mole of iron atoms is 6.02 × 1023 atoms; one mole of water molecules is 6.02 × 1023 molecules; and so on. With this kind of stoichiometric emphasis, the equation describing the synthesis of water can be read as: two moles of hydrogen molecules react with one mole of oxygen molecules to form two moles of water molecules. The same stoichiometric emphasis is usually applied to the equations for other types of chemical reactions, described below.

Decomposition

Decomposition reactions are chemical reactions in which chemical species break up into simpler parts. The decomposition of the gas ammonia is represented by the equation 2NH3 → N2 + 3H2; or, in terms of a single mole of ammonia, NH3 → 12N2 + 32H2, read as: one mole of ammonia molecules decomposes to form one-half mole of nitrogen molecules and three-halves of a mole of hydrogen molecules.

Compounds need not break down into elements in a decomposition reaction. For example, ammonium carbonate, (NH4)2CO3, decomposes into ammonia, carbon dioxide (CO2), and water, according to the equation (NH4)2CO3(s) → 2NH3(g) + CO2(g) + H2O(g).

The letters in parentheses indicate the physical states of the substances, s for solid, g for gaseous, l for liquid.

Polymerization

Polymerization reactions are not unlike synthesis reactions in that simpler substances combine to form more complex substances. The term polymerization, however, is restricted to chemical reactions in which the product is composed of many, hundreds or thousands, of the simpler reagent species. The polymerization of terephthalic acid, HO2C(C6H4)CO2H, with ethylene glycol, HOCH2CH2OH, to form the polymer called Dacron in fibre form or Mylar in sheet form, is represented by the equation:

in which n signifies a large number of moles (and 2n twice that number of moles): the dotted extensions at either end of the repetitious polymeric molecule symbol signify further extensions of the same pattern. The polymer ends eventually with an HO2C(C. . .) at the left and a . . . CH2OH at the right end.

Chain reactions

A chain reaction is a series of reactions in which the product of each step is a reagent for the next. Many polymerization reactions are chain reactions. A simpler example, however, is found in the synthesis of hydrogen bromide. The overall synthesis equation is H2 + Br2 → 2HBr. The details by which this synthesis occurs are believed to involve a series of reactions beginning with Br2 → 2Br, which is endoergic. Some of the bromine atoms will recombine, however, in the reverse exoergic reaction, Br + Br → Br2, but not all do so. If a bromine atom instead moves in such a way as to meet and interact with a hydrogen molecule, another reaction will occur: Br + H2 → HBr + H. This hydrogen atom then can react either with a bromine molecule, H + Br2 → HBr + Br, or with an HBr molecule, already formed, H + HBr → H2 + Br.

Note that HBr is formed and the chain is propagated by the two reactions Br + H2 → HBr + H and H + Br2 → HBr + Br; each recurrence of this sequence converts one molecule of hydrogen and one of bromine to two molecules of hydrogen bromide and generates other atoms that reinitiate the sequence, thus continuing the chain. Finally, after most of the hydrogen and bromine molecules present have reacted, the chain-termination reaction, Br + Br → Br2, predominates, with the formation of trace amounts of bromine molecules. Here, the symbols used in the equations represent atoms and molecules rather than moles of atoms and molecules. Stoichiometric application is not as appropriate for these details as it is for the overall synthesis equation.

Substitution, elimination, addition

Substitution reactions are reactions in which a molecule is changed by the loss of one or more atoms and the gain of one or more other atoms that in a sense substitute for those that are lost. For example, chloroform, CHCl3, reacts with antimony trifluoride, SbF3, to form the useful compound monochlorodifluoromethane, CHClF2. The incomplete, nonstoichiometric equation, emphasizing only the substitution, is CHCl3 + SbF3 → CHClF2. Two fluorine atoms are substituted for two chlorine atoms in this equation. The product substance undergoes a further reaction when heated strongly: 2CHClF2 → C2F4 + 2HCl.

This reaction is an example of an elimination reaction; in this case, a hydrogen atom and a chlorine atom are eliminated as molecular hydrogen chloride, HCl. In the presence of hydrogen peroxide or other catalysts, this compound, tetrafluoroethylene, C2F4, polymerizes to form the well-known substance Teflon, (CF2)n, or . . . CF2CF2CF2CF2CF2CF2CF2CF2 . . . .

Addition reactions, as the name implies, are reactions in which atoms are added to a molecule. If the added atoms are hydrogen atoms, the addition reaction is called a hydrogenation reaction. For example, many different vegetable oils can be hydrogenated. The product is a solid that can be used as shortening in the preparation of food. Oleic acid, C18H34O2, serves as an example: C18H34O2 + H2 → C18H36O2. This reaction and the hydrogenation of other vegetable oils are usually carried out in the presence of a specific catalyst, finely divided porous nickel; for this process to be economically effective, the hydrogen must be under high pressure.

Oxidation–reduction reactions

Oxidation–reduction reactions form another class of important chemical reactions. For example, the generation of electric current by the use of a so-called dry cell or by a storage battery can occur only by means of an oxidation–reduction reaction that takes place within the battery. (The chemical reactions that take place inside any typical battery remain unknown in detail.) In the more recently developed mercury cell, constructed out of zinc (Zn) metal, usually in the form of a cuplike container, in which mercury monoxide, HgO, water, and other substances are enclosed, in the region near the electrode marked with a plus sign, a reduction reaction occurs (the electron itself is represented by the symbol e−, which can be taken to indicate [stoichiometrically] a mole of electrons): 2e− + HgO + H2O → Hg + 2OH−.

This equation is called a reduction half-equation because it symbolizes the gain of electrons by the reagents, mercury monoxide and water, to form the products, mercury metal, Hg, and hydroxide ion, OH−. At the corresponding negative electrode, an oxidation reaction occurs, electrons being lost during the formation of product from the reagent. The reaction is symbolized in the oxidation half-equation Zn + 2OH− → ZnO + H2O + 2e−.

In addition to the disappearance of hydroxide (OH−) ion, zinc is also consumed. Hence, the cell will certainly cease to function when the enclosing cup, made of zinc, has disappeared. Further, the reduction half-equation states that, as this cell is discharged, metallic mercury is produced within the cell.

Acid–base reaction

Although the classes of chemical reaction have by no means been exhausted, the final class to be mentioned here is acid–base reaction. One definition of an acid is that it is a substance that gives up a proton; i.e., a hydrogen ion, H+ (a hydrogen atom with its single electron removed). Vinegar is largely composed of water and acetic acid, CH3COOH. The hydrogen atom on the right end, as depicted here, can be lost as an ion with the electron remaining behind on the acetate residue, now to be identified as an acetate ion (CH3COO)−. CH3COOH → (CH3COOO)− + H+.

The ionization of acetic acid, however, will not occur unless a base is present. A base is defined as a substance that tends to take protons from acids. Water is a suitable base, taking the proton to become a hydronium ion, H3O+: CH3COOH + H2O → (CH3COO)− + H3O)+.

In water solution, sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3 (common baking soda), forms dispersed sodium ions, Na+, and bicarbonate ions (HCO3)−, for the most part. Bicarbonate ions are bases, and they tend to take hydrogen ions from hydronium ions, which act as an acid, to form carbonic acid, H2CO3: (H3O)+ + (HCO3)− → H2O + H2CO3. The carbonic acid is unstable at ordinary temperatures; most of it decomposes into water and gaseous carbon dioxide: H2CO3 → H2O + CO2.

Separation and analysis

Broadly, the techniques used to investigate chemical reactions often require that the products of the reaction first be separated, because they are usually formed together within the same enclosure, such as a test tube. Separation techniques often involve the precipitation of one of the products; i.e., by means of a second chemical reaction, a product of the first is altered by addition of or elimination of one or more atoms, so that this new substance can be separated, perhaps by the addition of a liquid in which only it is soluble or in other ways.

Following separation, the product is identified by its properties. For example, water can be identified by its freezing point or its refractive index (a measure of the ratio of the velocities of light when it passes through one medium compared to another) or its elemental composition of 8 to 1 oxygen to hydrogen mass ratio or by the energy of particular photons that it absorbs when exposed to photons of different energies.

An example of a simple case indicates in a general sense a procedure that might be followed. If the amount of acetic acid present in a particular brand of vinegar is to be measured, one first prepares a solution of a base of known concentration, such as baking soda. Then, a measured volume of vinegar is put into a suitable reaction vessel, and, drop by counted drop, the solution of base is added. The volume of base solution added, including the last drop that caused the evolution of gas (carbon dioxide), would serve as a measure (in an approximate way) of the amount of acetic acid in the measured volume of vinegar originally put into the reaction vessel. For more precise work, a solution of hydroxide ion base, made by dissolving sodium hydroxide, NaOH, in water at a known concentration, would be used. In this instance, a few drops of coloured indicator solution, such as the red-coloured liquid made by steeping red cabbage in hot water, would be added to the vinegar before adding the solution of base. The chemical reaction is complete when the indicator, which is dispersed throughout the liquid, changes colour upon the addition of one drop more of base solution. Of course, the procedures currently used to elucidate the details of chemical reactions are considerably more sophisticated, but the principle is the same.

General works

Overviews are provided by William F. Kieffer, Chemistry: A Cultural Approach (1971), an introductory text for the interested person who is uninstructed in science; Harold G. Cassidy, Science Restated: Physics and Chemistry for the Non-Scientist (1970), a philosophical approach, with emphasis on the past and future contributions of physics and chemistry to culture; Cooper H. Langford and Ralph A. Beebe, The Development of Chemical Principles (1969), outstanding in clarity and rigour, but more advanced than Kieffer or Cassidy; J. Arthur Campbell, Why Do Chemical Reactions Occur? (1965), a well-written exposition; Edward L. King, How Chemical Reactions Occur (1963), an elementary treatment of kinetics and mechanisms, chain reactions, activation energy, and the use of laboratory instruments; and Roman Mierzecki, The Historical Development of Chemical Concepts, trans. from Polish (1991). A historical approach that considers the influence of Linus Pauling is found in Ahmed Zewail (ed.), The Chemical Bond: Structure and Dynamics (1992). Introductory college-level textbooks in general and organic chemistry provide much useful information on chemical reactions; these include Henry F. Holtzclaw, Jr., and William R. Robinson, General Chemistry, 8th ed. (1988); T.R. Dickson, Introduction to Chemistry, 6th ed. (1991); Ralph J. Fessenden and Joan S. Fessenden, Organic Chemistry, 5th ed. (1994); Robert Thornton Morrison and Robert Nielson Boyd, Organic Chemistry, 6th ed. (1992); and Andrew Streitwieser, Jr., Introduction to Organic Chemistry, 4th ed. (1992). An advanced-level text that also gives bibliographic references is R. Stephen Berry, Stuart A. Rice, and John Ross, Physical Chemistry (1980), especially part 3, which is a thorough exposition of chemical reactions in gases and solutions, with a grounding in the collision processes that lead to reactions.

Current information may be found in the following series: Progress in Physical Organic Chemistry (irregular); Advances in Physical Organic Chemistry (annual); Topics in Stereochemistry (irregular); Advances in Carbocation Chemistry (annual); Advances in Carbanion Chemistry (irregular); and Advances in Detailed Reaction Mechanisms (annual); and in reviews on various topics in Annual Reports on the Progress of Chemistry; and Chemical Reviews (bimonthly).

Works on chemical kinetics include the text by Moore and Pearson, cited above; Samuel Glasstone, Keith J. Laidler, and Henry Eyring, The Theory of Rate Processes (1941), the earliest comprehensive treatment of the theory of absolute reaction rates; and Henry Eyring, S.H. Lin, and S.M. Lin, Basic Chemical Kinetics (1980).

Eric K. Rideal and Hugh S. Taylor, Catalysis in Theory and Practice, 2nd ed. (1926), recounts the state of this subject during World War I and the rapid advances in theory that occurred shortly thereafter. Paul H. Emmett, Catalysis Then and Now: A Survey of the Advances in Catalysis (1965), is a classic work written by a Nobel Prize winner. Paul H. Emmett (ed.), Catalysis, 7 vol. (1954–60), is a monumental treatment of the subject, both theory and practice, contributed by a group of international experts in the field. Additional information may be found in William P. Jencks, Catalysis in Chemistry and Enzymology (1969, reissued 1987); R. Pearce and W.R. Patterson (eds.), Catalysis and Chemical Processes (1981); John M. Thomas and Kirill I. Zamaraev (eds.), Perspectives in Catalysis (1992); Bruce C. Gates, Catalytic Chemistry (1992); and J.A. Moulijn, P.W.N.M. van Leeuwen, and R.A. van Santen (eds.), Catalysis: An Integrated Approach to Homogeneous, Heterogeneous, and Industrial Catalysis (1993). Advances in Catalysis (annual) records the year-to-year advances in the field as reported by international authorities, the reactants, are converted to one or more different substances, the products. Substances are either chemical elements or compounds. A chemical reaction rearranges the constituent atoms of the reactants to create different substances as products.

Chemical reactions are an integral part of technology, of culture, and indeed of life itself. Burning fuels, smelting iron, making glass and pottery, brewing beer, and making wine and cheese are among many examples of activities incorporating chemical reactions that have been known and used for thousands of years. Chemical reactions abound in the geology of Earth, in the atmosphere and oceans, and in a vast array of complicated processes that occur in all living systems.

Chemical reactions must be distinguished from physical changes. Physical changes include changes of state, such as ice melting to water and water evaporating to vapour. If a physical change occurs, the physical properties of a substance will change, but its chemical identity will remain the same. No matter what its physical state, water (H2O) is the same compound, with each molecule composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. However, if water, as ice, liquid, or vapour, encounters sodium metal (Na), the atoms will be redistributed to give the new substances molecular hydrogen (H2) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). By this, we know that a chemical change or reaction has occurred.

Historical overview

The concept of a chemical reaction dates back about 250 years. It had its origins in early experiments that classified substances as elements and compounds and in theories that explained these processes. Development of the concept of a chemical reaction had a primary role in defining the science of chemistry as it is known today.

The first substantive studies in this area were on gases. The identification of oxygen in the 18th century by Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele and English clergyman Joseph Priestley had particular significance. The influence of French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier was especially notable, in that his insights confirmed the importance of quantitative measurements of chemical processes. In his book Traité élémentaire de chimie (1789; Elementary Treatise on Chemistry), Lavoisier identified 33 “elements”—substances not broken down into simpler entities. Among his many discoveries, Lavoisier accurately measured the weight gained when elements were oxidized, and he ascribed the result to the combining of the element with oxygen. The concept of chemical reactions involving the combination of elements clearly emerged from his writing, and his approach led others to pursue experimental chemistry as a quantitative science.

The other occurrence of historical significance concerning chemical reactions was the development of atomic theory. For this, much credit goes to English chemist John Dalton, who postulated his atomic theory early in the 19th century. Dalton maintained that matter is composed of small, indivisible particles, that the particles, or atoms, of each element were unique, and that chemical reactions were involved in rearranging atoms to form new substances. This view of chemical reactions accurately defines the current subject. Dalton’s theory provided a basis for understanding the results of earlier experimentalists, including the law of conservation of matter (matter is neither created nor destroyed) and the law of constant composition (all samples of a substance have identical elemental compositions).

Thus, experiment and theory, the two cornerstones of chemical science in the modern world, together defined the concept of chemical reactions. Today experimental chemistry provides innumerable examples, and theoretical chemistry allows an understanding of their meaning.

Basic concepts of chemical reactions

Synthesis

When making a new substance from other substances, chemists say either that they carry out a synthesis or that they synthesize the new material. Reactants are converted to products, and the process is symbolized by a chemical equation. For example, iron (Fe) and sulfur (S) combine to form iron sulfide (FeS).

Fe(s) + S(s) ⟶ FeS(s)

The plus sign indicates that iron reacts with sulfur. The arrow signifies that the reaction “forms” or “yields” iron sulfide, the product. The state of matter of reactants and products is designated with the symbols (s) for solids, (l) for liquids, and (g) for gases.

The conservation of matter

In reactions under normal laboratory conditions, matter is neither created nor destroyed, and elements are not transformed into other elements. Therefore, equations depicting reactions must be balanced; that is, the same number of atoms of each kind must appear on opposite sides of the equation. The balanced equation for the iron-sulfur reaction shows that one iron atom can react with one sulfur atom to give one formula unit of iron sulfide.

Chemists ordinarily work with weighable quantities of elements and compounds. For example, in the iron-sulfur equation the symbol Fe represents 55.845 grams of iron, S represents 32.066 grams of sulfur, and FeS represents 87.911 grams of iron sulfide. Because matter is not created or destroyed in a chemical reaction, the total mass of reactants is the same as the total mass of products. If some other amount of iron is used, say, one-tenth as much (5.585 grams), only one-tenth as much sulfur can be consumed (3.207 grams), and only one-tenth as much iron sulfide is produced (8.791 grams). If 32.066 grams of sulfur were initially present with 5.585 grams of iron, then 28.859 grams of sulfur would be left over when the reaction was complete.

The reaction of methane (CH4, a major component of natural gas) with molecular oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water can be depicted by the chemical equation

CH4(g) + 2O2(g) ⟶ CO2(g) + 2H2O(l)

Here another feature of chemical equations appears. The number 2 preceding O2 and H2O is a stoichiometric factor. (The number 1 preceding CH4 and CO2 is implied.) This indicates that one molecule of methane reacts with two molecules of oxygen to produce one molecule of carbon dioxide and two molecules of water. The equation is balanced because the same number of atoms of each element appears on both sides of the equation (here one carbon, four hydrogen, and four oxygen atoms). Analogously with the iron-sulfur example, we can say that 16 grams of methane and 64 grams of oxygen will produce 44 grams of carbon dioxide and 36 grams of water. That is, 80 grams of reactants will lead to 80 grams of products.

The ratio of reactants and products in a chemical reaction is called chemical stoichiometry. Stoichiometry depends on the fact that matter is conserved in chemical processes, and calculations giving mass relationships are based on the concept of the mole. One mole of any element or compound contains the same number of atoms or molecules, respectively, as one mole of any other element or compound. By international agreement, one mole of the most common isotope of carbon (carbon-12) has a mass of exactly 12 grams (this is called the molar mass) and represents 6.0221415 × 1023 atoms (Avogadro’s number). One mole of iron contains 55.847 grams; one mole of methane contains 16.043 grams; one mole of molecular oxygen is equivalent to 31.999 grams; and one mole of water is 18.015 grams. Each of these masses represents 6.0221 × 1023 molecules.

Energy considerations

Energy plays a key role in chemical processes. According to the modern view of chemical reactions, bonds between atoms in the reactants must be broken, and the atoms or pieces of molecules are reassembled into products by forming new bonds. Energy is absorbed to break bonds, and energy is evolved as bonds are made. In some reactions the energy required to break bonds is larger than the energy evolved on making new bonds, and the net result is the absorption of energy. Such a reaction is said to be endothermic if the energy is in the form of heat. The opposite of endothermic is exothermic; in an exothermic reaction, energy as heat is evolved. The more general terms exoergic (energy evolved) and endoergic (energy required) are used when forms of energy other than heat are involved.

A great many common reactions are exothermic. The formation of compounds from the constituent elements is almost always exothermic. Formation of water from molecular hydrogen and oxygen and the formation of a metal oxide such as calcium oxide (CaO) from calcium metal and oxygen gas are examples. Among widely recognizable exothermic reactions is the combustion of fuels (such as the reaction of methane with oxygen mentioned previously).

The formation of slaked lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) when water is added to lime (CaO) is exothermic.

CaO(s) + H2O(l) ⟶ Ca(OH)2(s)

This reaction occurs when water is added to dry portland cement to make concrete, and heat evolution of energy as heat is evident because the mixture becomes warm.

Not all reactions are exothermic (or exoergic). A few compounds, such as nitric oxide (NO) and hydrazine (N2H4), require energy input when they are formed from the elements. The decomposition of limestone (CaCO3) to make lime (CaO) is also an endothermic process; it is necessary to heat limestone to a high temperature for this reaction to occur.

CaCO3(s) ⟶ CaO(s) + CO2(g)

The decomposition of water into its elements by the process of electrolysis is another endoergic process. Electrical energy is used rather than heat energy to carry out this reaction.

2 H2O(g) ⟶ 2 H2(g) + O2(g)

Generally, evolution of heat in a reaction favours the conversion of reactants to products. However, entropy is important in determining the favourability of a reaction. Entropy is a measure of the number of ways in which energy can be distributed in any system. Entropy accounts for the fact that not all energy available in a process can be manipulated to do work.

A chemical reaction will favour the formation of products if the sum of the changes in entropy for the reaction system and its surroundings is positive. An example is burning wood. Wood has a low entropy. When wood burns, it produces ash as well as the high-entropy substances carbon dioxide gas and water vapour. The entropy of the reacting system increases during combustion. Just as important, the heat energy transferred by the combustion to its surroundings increases the entropy in the surroundings. The total of entropy changes for the substances in the reaction and the surroundings is positive, and the reaction is product-favoured.

When hydrogen and oxygen react to form water, the entropy of the products is less than that of the reactants. Offsetting this decrease in entropy, however, is the increase in entropy of the surroundings owing to the heat transferred to it by the exothermic reaction. Again because of the overall increase in entropy, the combustion of hydrogen is product-favoured.

Kinetic considerations

Chemical reactions commonly need an initial input of energy to begin the process. Although the combustion of wood, paper, or methane is an exothermic process, a burning match or a spark is needed to initiate this reaction. The energy supplied by a match arises from an exothermic chemical reaction that is itself initiated by the frictional heat generated by rubbing the match on a suitable surface.

In some reactions, the energy to initiate a reaction can be provided by light. Numerous reactions in Earth’s atmosphere are photochemical, or light-driven, reactions initiated by solar radiation. One example is the transformation of ozone (O3) into oxygen (O2) in the troposphere. The absorption of ultraviolet light (hν) from the Sun to initiate this reaction prevents potentially harmful high-energy radiation from reaching Earth’s surface.

For a reaction to occur, it is not sufficient that it be energetically product-favoured. The reaction must also occur at an observable rate. Several factors influence reaction rates, including the concentrations of reactants, the temperature, and the presence of catalysts. The concentration affects the rate at which reacting molecules collide, a prerequisite for any reaction. Temperature is influential because reactions occur only if collisions between reactant molecules are sufficiently energetic. The proportion of molecules with sufficient energy to react is related to the temperature. Catalysts affect rates by providing a lower energy pathway by which a reaction can occur. Among common catalysts are precious metal compounds used in automotive exhaust systems that accelerate the breakdown of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide into harmless nitrogen and oxygen. A wide array of biochemical catalysts are also known, including chlorophyll in plants (which facilitates the reaction by which atmospheric carbon dioxide is converted to complex organic molecules such as glucose) and many biochemical catalysts called enzymes. The enzyme pepsin, for example, assists in the breakup of large protein molecules during digestion.

Classifying chemical reactions

Chemists classify reactions in a number of ways: (a) by the type of product, (b) by the types of reactants, (c) by reaction outcome, and (d) by reaction mechanism. Often, a given reaction can be placed in two or even three categories.

Classification by type of product

Gas-forming reactions

Many reactions produce a gas such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), or sulfur dioxide (SO2). An example of a gas-forming reaction is that which occurs when a metal carbonate such as calcium carbonate (CaCO3, the chief component of limestone, seashells, and marble) is mixed with hydrochloric acid (HCl) to produce carbon dioxide.

CaCO3(s) + 2 HCl(aq) ⟶ CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)

In this equation, the symbol (aq) signifies that a compound is in an aqueous, or water, solution.

Cake-batter rising is caused by a gas-forming reaction between an acid and baking soda, sodium hydrogen carbonate (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3). Tartaric acid (C4H6O6), an acid found in many foods, is often the acidic reactant.

C4H6O6(aq) + NaHCO3(aq) ⟶ NaC4H5O6(aq) + H2O(l) + CO2(g)

In this equation, NaC4H5O6 is sodium tartrate.

Most baking powders contain both tartaric acid and sodium hydrogen carbonate, which are kept apart by using starch as a filler. When baking powder is mixed into the moist batter, the acid and sodium hydrogen carbonate dissolve slightly, which allows them to come into contact and react. Carbon dioxide is produced, and the batter rises.

Precipitation reactions

Formation of an insoluble compound will sometimes occur when a solution containing a particular cation (a positively charged ion) is mixed with another solution containing a particular anion (a negatively charged ion). The solid that separates is called a precipitate.

Compounds having anions such as sulfide (S2−), hydroxide (OH−), carbonate (CO32−), and phosphate (PO43−) are often insoluble in water. A precipitate will form if a solution containing one of these anions is added to a solution containing a metal cation such as Fe2+, Cu2+, or Al3+.

Fe2+(aq) + 2 OH−(aq) ⟶ Fe(OH)2(s)

Al3+(aq) + PO43−(aq) ⟶ AlPO4(s)

Minerals are water-insoluble compounds. Precipitation reactions in nature can account for mineral formation in many cases, such as with undersea vents called “black smokers” that form metal sulfides.

Classification by types of reactants

Two types of reactions involve transfer of a charged species. Oxidation-reduction reactions occur with electron transfer between reagents. In contrast, reactions of acids with bases in water involve proton (H+) transfer from an acid to a base.

Oxidation-reduction reactions

Oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions involve the transfer of one or more electrons from a reducing agent to an oxidizing agent. This has the effect of reducing the real or apparent electric charge on an atom in the substance being reduced and of increasing the real or apparent electric charge on an atom in the substance being oxidized. Simple redox reactions include the reactions of an element with oxygen. For example, magnesium burns in oxygen to form magnesium oxide (MgO). The product is an ionic compound, made up of Mg2+ and O2− ions. The reaction occurs with each magnesium atom giving up two electrons and being oxidized and each oxygen atom accepting two electrons and being reduced.

Another common redox reaction is one step in the rusting of iron in damp air.

Redox reactions are the source of the energy of batteries. The electric current generated by a battery arises because electrons are transferred from a reducing agent to an oxidizing agent through the external circuitry. In a common dry cell and in alkaline batteries, two electrons per zinc atom are transferred to the oxidizing agent, thereby converting zinc metal to the Zn2+ ion. In dry-cell batteries, which are often used in flashlights, the electrons given up by zinc are taken up by ammonium ions (NH4+) present in the battery as ammonium chloride (NH4Cl). In alkaline batteries, which are used in calculators and watches, the electrons are transferred to a metal oxide such as silver oxide (AgO), which is reduced to silver metal in the process.

Acid-base reactions

Acids and bases are important compounds in the natural world, so their chemistry is central to any discussion of chemical reactions. There are several theories of acid-base behaviour.

The Arrhenius theory

The Arrhenius theory, named after Swedish physicist Svante August Arrhenius, views an acid as a substance that increases the concentration of the hydronium ion (H3O+) in an aqueous solution and a base as a substance that increases the hydroxide ion (OH−) concentration. Well-known acids include hydrochloric acid (HCl), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), nitric acid (HNO3), and acetic acid (CH3COOH). Bases includes such common substances as caustic soda (sodium hydroxide, NaOH) and slaked lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2). Another common base is ammonia (NH3), which reacts with water to give a basic solution according to the following balanced equation.

NH3(aq) + H2O(l) ⟶ NH4+(aq) + OH−(aq)

(This reaction occurs to a very small extent; the hydroxide ion concentration is small but measurable.)

A large number of natural bases are known, including morphine, cocaine, nicotine, and caffeine; many synthetic drugs are also bases. All of these contain a nitrogen atom bonded to three other groups, and all behave similarly to ammonia in that they can react with water to give a solution containing the hydroxide ion.

Amino acids, a very important class of compounds, are able to function both as acids and as bases. Amino acid molecules contain both acidic (−COOH) and basic (−NH2) sites. In an aqueous solution, amino acids exist in both the molecular form and the so-called "zwitterionic" form, H3N + CH2CO2−. In this structure the nitrogen atom bears a positive charge, and the oxygen atom of the acid group bears a negative charge.

According to the Arrhenius theory, acid-base reactions involve the combination of the hydrogen ion (H+) and the hydroxide ion to form water. An example is the reaction of aqueous solutions of sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid.

HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) ⟶ NaCl(aq) + H2O(l)

The Brønsted-Lowry theory

A somewhat more general acid-base theory, the Brønsted-Lowry theory, named after Danish chemist Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted and English chemist Thomas Martin Lowry, defines an acid as a proton donor and a base as a proton acceptor. In this theory, the reaction of an acid and base is represented as an equilibrium reaction.

acid (1) + base (2) ⇌ base (1) + acid (2)

(The double arrows, ⇌, indicate that the products can re-form the reactants in a dynamic process.)

Acid (1) and base (1) are called a conjugate acid-base pair, as are acid (2) and base (2). The advantage of this theory is its predictive capacity. Whether the equilibrium lies toward the reactants (reactant-favoured) or the products (product-favoured) is determined by the relative strengths of the acids and bases.

The Brønsted-Lowry theory is often closely associated with the solvent water. Dissolving an acid in water to form the hydronium ion and the anion of the acid is an acid-base reaction. Acids are classified as strong or weak, depending on whether the equilibrium favours the reactants or products. Hydrochloric acid, a strong acid, ionizes completely in water to form the hydronium and chlorine (Cl−) ions in a product-favoured reaction.

HCl(aq) + H2O(l) ⟶ H3O+(aq) +Cl−(aq)

Using the Brønsted-Lowry theory, the reaction of ammonia and hydrochloric acid in water is represented by the following equation:

NH3(aq) + HCl(aq) ⟶ NH4+(aq) + Cl−(aq)

Hydrochloric acid and the chlorine ion are one conjugate acid-base pair, and the ammonium ion and ammonia are the other. The acid-base reaction is the transfer of the hydrogen ion from the acid (HCl) to the base (NH3). The equilibrium favours the weaker acid and base, in this case the products. Note that the hydroxide ion does not appear in this equation, a point differentiating the Arrhenius and Brønsted-Lowry theories.

The Lewis theory

A still broader acid and base theory was proposed by American physical chemist Gilbert Newton Lewis. In the Lewis theory, bases are defined as electron-pair donors and acids as electron-pair acceptors. Acid-base reactions involve the combination of the Lewis acid and base through sharing of the base’s electron pair.

Ammonia is an example of a Lewis base. A pair of electrons located on the nitrogen atom may be used to form a chemical bond to a Lewis acid such as boron trifluoride (BF3). (In the following equation, the colon represents an electron pair.)

H3N: + BF3 ⟶ H3N−BF3

Ammonia, water, and many other Lewis bases react with metal ions to form a group of species known as coordination compounds. The reaction to form these species is another example of a Lewis acid-base reaction. For example, the light blue colour of a solution of Cu2+ ions in water is due to the [Cu(H2O)6]2+ ion. If ammonia is added to this solution, the water molecules attached to copper are replaced by ammonia molecules, and the beautiful deep blue ion [Cu(NH3)4]2+ is formed.

Classification by reaction outcome

Chemists often classify reactions on the basis of the overall result. Here several commonly encountered reactions are classified. As previously noted, many reactions defy simple classification and may fit in several categories.

Decomposition reactions

Decomposition reactions are processes in which chemical species break up into simpler parts. Usually, decomposition reactions require energy input. For example, a common method of producing oxygen gas in the laboratory is the decomposition of potassium chlorate (KClO3) by heat.

2KClO3(s) ⟶ 2KCl(s) + 3O2(g)

Another decomposition reaction is the production of sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl2) by electrolysis of molten sodium chloride (NaCl) at high temperature.

2NaCl (l) ⟶ 2Na(l) + Cl2(g)

A decomposition reaction that was very important in the history of chemistry is the decomposition of mercury oxide (HgO) with heat to give mercury metal (Hg) and oxygen gas. This is the reaction used by 18th-century chemists Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Joseph Priestley, and Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier in their experiments on oxygen.

2HgO(s) ⟶ 2Hg(l) + O2(g)

Substitution, elimination, and addition reactions

These terms are particularly useful in describing organic reactions. In a substitution reaction, an atom or group of atoms in a molecule is replaced by another atom or group of atoms. For example, methane (CH4) reacts with chlorine (Cl2) to produce chloromethane (CH3Cl), a compound used as a topical anesthetic. In this reaction, a chlorine atom is substituted for a hydrogen atom.

Substitution reactions are widely used in industrial chemistry. For example, substituting two of the chlorine atoms on chloroform (CHCl3) with fluorine atoms produces chlorodifluoromethane (CHClF2). This product undergoes a further reaction when heated strongly.

2CHClF2(g) ⟶ F2C=CF2(g) + 2HCl(g)

This latter reaction is an example of an elimination reaction, a hydrogen atom and a chlorine atom being eliminated from the starting material as hydrochloric acid (HCl). The other product is tetrafluoroethylene, a precursor to the polymer known commercially as Teflon.

Addition reactions are the opposite of elimination reactions. As the name implies, one molecule is added to another. An example is the common industrial preparation of ethanol (CH3CH2OH). Historically, this compound was made by fermentation. However, since the early 1970s, it has also been made commercially by the addition of water to ethylene.

C2H4+ H2O ⟶ CH3CH2OH

Polymerization reactions

Polymers are high-molecular-weight compounds, fashioned by the aggregation of many smaller molecules called monomers. The plastics that have so changed society and the natural and synthetic fibres used in clothing are polymers. There are two basic ways to form polymers: (a) linking small molecules together, a type of addition reaction, and (b) combining two molecules (of the same or different type) with the elimination of a stable small molecule such as water. This latter type of polymerization combines addition and elimination reactions and is called a condensation reaction.

An example of the first type of reaction is the union of thousands of ethylene molecules that gives polyethylene.

Starch and cellulose are examples of the second type of polymer. These are members of a class of compounds called carbohydrates, substances with formulas that are multiples of the simple formula CH2O. Both starch and cellulose are polymers of glucose, a sugar with the formula C6H12O6. In both starch and cellulose, molecules of glucose are joined together with concomitant elimination of a molecule of water for every linkage formed.

nC6H12O6 ⟶ −[−C6H10O5−]−n + nH2O

The synthetic material nylon is another example of this type of polymer. Water and a polymer (nylon-6,6) are formed when an organic acid and an amine (a compound derived from ammonia) combine.

The natural fibres of proteins such as hair, wool, and silk are also polymers that contain the repeating unit (-CHRCONH-), where R is a group of atoms attached to the main polymer. These form by joining amino acids with the elimination of a water molecule for each CONH or peptide linkage formed.

Solvolysis and hydrolysis

A solvolysis reaction is one in which the solvent is also a reactant. Solvolysis reactions are generally named after the specific solvent—for example, the term hydrolysis when water is involved. If a compound is represented by the formula AB (in which A and B are atoms or groups of atoms) and water is represented by the formula HOH, the hydrolysis reaction may be represented by the reversible chemical reaction

AB + HOH ⇌ AH + BOH.

Hydrolysis of an organic compound is illustrated by the reaction of water with esters. Esters have the general formula RCOOR′, R and R′ being combining groups (such as CH3). The hydrolysis of an ester produces an acid and an alcohol. The equation for the reaction of methyl acetate and water is

CH3COOCH3(aq) + H2O(l) ⟶ CH3COOH(aq) + CH3OH(aq).

Hydrolysis reactions play an important role in chemical processes that occur in living organisms. Proteins are hydrolyzed to amino acids, fats to fatty acids and glycerol, and starches and complex sugars to simple sugars. In most instances, the rates of these processes are enhanced by the presence of enzymes, biological catalysts.

Hydrolysis reactions are also important to acid-base behaviour. Anions of weak acids dissolve in water to give basic solutions, as in the hydrolysis of the acetate ion, CH3COO−.

CH3COO−(aq) + H2O(l) ⟶ CH3COOH(aq) + OH−(aq)

Although this is a reactant-favoured reaction, it occurs to an extent sufficient to cause a solution containing the acetate ion to exhibit basic properties (e.g., turning red litmus paper blue).

Hydrolysis reactions account for the basic character of many common substances. Salts of the borate, phosphate, and carbonate ions, for example, give basic solutions that have long been used for cleaning purposes. Many food products also contain basic anions such as tartrate and citrate ions.

Classification by reaction mechanism

Reaction mechanisms provide details on how atoms are shuffled and reassembled in the formation of products from reactants. Chain and photolysis reactions are named on the basis of the mechanism of the process.

Chain reactions

Chain reactions occur in a sequence of steps, in which the product of each step is a reagent for the next. Chain reactions generally involve three distinct processes: an initiation step that begins the reaction, a series of chain-propagation steps, and, eventually, a termination step.

Polymerization reactions are chain reactions, and the formation of Teflon from tetrafluoroethylene is one example. In this reaction, a peroxide (a compound in which two oxygen atoms are joined together by a single covalent bond) may be used as the initiator. Peroxides readily form highly reactive free-radical species (a species with an unpaired electron) that initiate the reaction. There are a number of different ways to terminate the chain, only one of which is shown. (In the following equations, the dots represent unpaired electrons, and R is a generic organic group.)

Decomposition of a peroxide to radicals:

ROOR ⟶ 2 RO∙

Chain initiation:

RO∙ + F2C=CF2 ⟶ ROCF2CF2∙

Chain-propagation steps:

ROCF2CF2∙ + F2C=CF2 ⟶ ROCF2CF2CF2CF2∙

ROCF2CF2CF2CF2∙ + (n−2)F2C=CF2 ⟶ RO−(CF2CF2∙)n−

A possible chain-termination step:

RO−(CF2CF2∙)n− + ∙OR ⟶ RO(CF2CF2)nOR

Photolysis reactions

Photolysis reactions are initiated or sustained by the absorption of electromagnetic radiation. One example, the decomposition of ozone to oxygen in the atmosphere, is mentioned above in the section Kinetic considerations. Another example is the synthesis of chloromethane from methane and chlorine, which is initiated by light. The overall reaction is

CH4(g) + Cl2(g) + hυ ⟶ CH3Cl(g) + HCl(g),

where hυ represents light. This reaction, coincidentally, is also a chain reaction. It begins with the endothermic reaction of a chlorine molecule (Cl2) to give chlorine atoms, a process that occurs under ultraviolet irradiation. When formed, some of the chlorine atoms recombine to form chlorine molecules, but not all do so. If a chlorine atom instead collides with a methane molecule, a two-step chain propagation occurs. The first propagation step produces the methyl radical (CH3). This free-radical species reacts with a chlorine molecule to give the product and a chlorine atom, which continues the chain reaction for many additional steps. Possible termination steps include combination of two methyl radicals to form ethane (CH3CH3) and a combination of methyl and chlorine radicals to give chloromethane.

Chain-initiation step:

Cl2 ⇌ 2 ∙Cl

Chain-propagation steps:

CH4 + ∙Cl ⟶ ∙CH3+ HCl

∙CH3+ Cl2 ⟶ CH3Cl + ∙Cl

Possible chain-termination steps:

∙CH3+ ∙CH3 ⟶ CH3CH3

∙CH3+ ∙Cl ⟶ CH3Cl

John C. Kotz, Paul M. Treichel, and John R. Townsend, Chemistry & Chemical Reactivity, 7th ed. (2009), intended for university students, contains examples of chemical reactions woven into descriptions of chemical principles. William H. Brown, Christopher S. Foote, Brent L. Iverson, and Eric Anslyn, Organic Chemistry, 5th ed. (2009), describes the principles of organic chemistry, with chemical reactions organized by the type of molecule undergoing reaction and by the type of reaction. N.N. Greenwood and Alan Earnshaw, Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd ed. (1997), is an advanced textbook and reference book for inorganic chemistry that presents a broad overview of chemical reactions, organized by element.